02/03/2018
Is the Word of God alive to you? Is the gospel of Jesus Christ breathing within your being? If we really desire the Word to come alive and to infuse us with the life that only God can provide, then we need the Holy Spirit moving within us. It is the difference between a grade school child reading “The Charge of the Light Brigade”, (the work of poet Lord Alfred Tennyson), and sitting at his feet while Tennyson himself reads the verse. The Spirit brings life to the Word for us.
“It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh is no help at all. The words that I have spoken to you are spirit and life.
Simon Peter answered him, "Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life,”
John 6:63, 68 ESV
Peter was right, Jesus did embody the words of eternal life, and they flowed from him with all the heart, and meaning, that God intended them to bring forth. We read of Him teaching, and are amazed by His humility, His genuine love that expects no return, and the wisdom of someone who has lived the very story and experiences he is telling. But when the Holy Spirit fills us, the Word comes alive to us as well, and as we read of the hem of Jesus’ robe it takes on texture, and we smell the dust at his feet, feel the desperation, hope, and exhilaration of the crowd surrounding Him, and know the healing power that coursed through Him, even by casual touch, to a faith filled woman.
“And behold, a woman who had suffered from a discharge of blood for twelve years came up behind him and touched the fringe of his garment, for she said to herself, "If I only touch his garment, I will be made well." Jesus turned, and seeing her he said, "Take heart, daughter; your faith has made you well." And instantly the woman was made well.”
Matthew 9:20-22 ESV
As I read Andrew Murray today, he was trying to describe our need for the Holy Spirit if we are ever to fully experience Scripture. He spoke of the meager amount of understanding that we alone can bring to God’s Word. Let’s listen to a short excerpt from his discussion...
“The Word is like a seed. In every natural seed there is a fleshy part in which the life is hidden. We can have the most perfect seed to all outward appearances, but unless that seed has the influence of the sun and good soil and moisture, its life will never develop and grow. We may hold the words and the doctrines of Scripture in the intelligent sense, and yet know little of their life and power.” - Andrew Murray
When I was a child, I took piano lessons. Over and over again I would practice simple techniques and very simple songs. Unfortunately the lessons never progressed past the novice level. Then, when I was a teenager I met a young fellow who had never taken a single lesson, but could play even the most complicated of pieces with ease... his comprehension was a mystery to me. Where did this ability come from?
Reading the Word with our own understanding and skill is like my years of fruitless piano lessons; I could read the notes on the sheets of music, and I could play each one, but the spirit of the piece never came forth, and to even the most untrained ear... I was a beginner. On the other hand, the young man I met had an ability to bring forth music that had nothing to do with intellectual mastery... it was a gift. When the Holy Spirit fills us and leads us through the Scripture, we receive a gift that all of our own efforts will never allow us to acquire. The Spirit will reveal the mystery that connects the notes of God’s Word, and makes them music. It will catch us up in God’s very will, and carry us to places in His Word we could never have gone otherwise.
So how do you approach God’s Word? Do you read each syllable, and repeat the stories using your own ability? Do you walk through Scripture alone and wonder at the intensity of the emotion you are reading about? If this is the case then you will always be a novice, and your understanding limited to the staccato repetition of a child trying to play chopsticks on the piano. But if you open yourself to the Holy Spirit, and allow Him to fill and lead you, then the virtuoso understanding of God’s Word will come to you beyond all expectation... beyond your ability to comprehend the leap of power that jumped from the hem of a cloak, and healed a woman instantly.
“And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Helper, to be with you forever, even the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him. You know him, for he dwells with you and will be in you.”
John 14:16-17 ESV
Prayer:
Father, I thank you for the Holy Spirit that you have sent to reside within me. I thank you for the comfort, understanding, and ability it has brought into my life. I thank for the spark of eternal life that has come with it, and the sealing of our relationship through the joining power your Spirit brings. You desire that I know you Father, and you have provided me with this means of bridging my simple understanding with the infinite magnificence that is you. How great this gift, how overflowing your mercy, how deep your love, and how perfect your grace. You come to me in the spark of the Spirit, the tongue of fire that dances upon me, and that ignites your furnace within me. I praise your name Holy Father while I read your Word as if for the first time. How wonderful are your mysteries that quicken my heart, my spirit, my soul... Holy, Holy, Holy art thou my God!
Rich Forbes